Czech Nurses Offered Plastic Surgery Perks
When a car salesman is anxious to close a difficult sale, it’s traditional for him to make the customer a special deal. Buy the lime-green party van and they’ll throw in a set of free air bags – that sort of thing. Well, a private health clinic in the Czech Republic is so desperate for skilled nurses, they’re willing to offer similar incentives.
Petra Kalivodova, a 31-year-old nurse at the Iscare clinic in Prague, was considering whether or not to renew her three year contract when the clinic’s management made her an offer she couldn’t refuse.
In return for signing on, the clinic offered her a package of special perks, The deal included free language lessons, five weeks of paid vacation and a menu of complimentary plastic surgeries– including a pair of custom silicone breast implants.
Kalivodova took the deal. “I would rather have plastic surgery than a free car,” she said.
Nurses are in high demand worldwide. The U.S. government is predicting that by 2016 there will be one million more nursing positions than nurses to fill them. In the Czech Republic, some hospitals have already been forced to close due to a lack of nurses. As a result, hospitals and other care facilities are offering prospective nurses all kinds of perks, including food vouchers, day care and discount plastic surgery to attract applicants.
But, there’s a catch. Nurses who accept the free plastic surgery offer can’t leave the clinic before their three-year contract ends. If they break their contract, the full cost of the surgery comes due.
Some advocates for women’s rights feel that offering free breast implants and other forms of cosmetic surgery is demeaning to professional women. The Czech government’s health bureaucracy isn’t exactly hot on the idea, either.
But the offer is legal, and the nurses themselves don’t seem to mind. The number of nursing applications received by Iscare’s management has jumped by 10% since the free plastic surgery offer began, and the clinic is now fully staffed.
And, as for Nurse Kalivdova herself? She says she is very pleased with her new look.
Macy responded:
Personally, I have nothing against plastic surgery and am willing to undergo if necessary. And it’s a good thing nurses who can’t afford the procedure can avail of it free. But something must be wrong if hospitals and clinics will have to opt for such special perks just to retain nurses. I think, if their compensated well and receive enough benefits, there’s no need to offer this deal.